As for the third part of his office, which was to be _king_, I have already shewn that his kingdom was not to begin till the resurrection. But then he shall be king, not only as God, in which sense he is king already, and ever shall be, of all the earth, in virtue of his omnipotence; but also peculiarly of his own elect, by virtue of the pact they make with him in their baptism. And therefore it is, that our Saviour saith (_Matth._ xix. 28) that his apostles should sit upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel, _When the Son of Man shall sit in the throne of his glory_: whereby he signified that he should reign then in his human nature; and (_Matth._ xvi. 27) _The Son of Man shall come in the glory of his Father, with his angels, and then he shall reward every man according to his works_. The same we may read, _Mark_ xiii. 26, and xiv. 62; and more expressly for the time, _Luke_ xxii. 29, 30, _I appoint unto you a kingdom, as my Father hath appointed to me, that you may eat and drink at my table in my kingdom, and sit on thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel_. By which it is manifest, that the kingdom of Christ appointed to him by his Father, is not to be before the Son of Man shall come in glory, and make his apostles judges of the twelve tribes of Israel. But a man may here ask, seeing there is no marriage in the kingdom of heaven, whether men shall then eat and drink? What eating therefore is meant in this place? This is expounded by our Saviour (_John_ vi. 27), where he saith, _Labour not for the meat which perisheth, but for that meat which endureth unto everlasting life, which the Son of Man shall give you_. So that by eating at Christ’s table, is meant the eating of the tree of life; that is to say, the enjoying of immortality, in the kingdom of the Son of Man. By which places and many more, it is evident that our Saviour’s kingdom is to be exercised by him in his human nature. [Sidenote: Christ’s authority in the kingdom of God, subordinate to that of his Father.]